True Parents’ Encouragement in Our Mission Work

The following testimony comes from our sister who first heard the Principle in Rome in August 1966. She relates several personal encounters with Father and Mother during the early years of the movement in the West.

My father had had a revelation, around 1954 when I was about twelve or thirteen years old, that Christ was already on the earth and that he was an oriental man, dressed in white. I had argued with my father, “No, no, Jesus will come back on the clouds!” But my Father said he had to be born as a baby and had to spread his teach­ing by word of mouth, one by one; that he couldn’t possibly be Jesus. He insisted that he was an oriental man, and that they wore white clothing in the country where he was.

As time passed, I forgot about all he told me, though I did believe that the Second Advent would take place in my lifetime. When I heard the intro­ductory talk, I immediately remem­bered my father’s revelation. When they said this revelation [the Principle] came from an oriental country, Korea, and that the national dress was white, I thought, “Oh! This is what my father saw!” Immediately I knew it was true.

God’s presence was so powerful as I listened to the Principle. I felt a warm wind blowing around me. After the first few paragraphs, I knew what the conclusion would be.

During Father’s Second World Tour

Father came to England in 1969. I was happy because I was able to serve True Parents. I helped take care of True Parents’ clothes and bring food to their room, and so forth. And we all had a chance to sing for True Parents. Patricia Hartley and I sang an African song for Father. I was very moved when, as we sang, Father really listened, so humbly, really paying attention. Then he asked us what the words meant. People don’t usually lis­ten so attentively, so I was moved.

After that, I went back to Holland, where I had been working as a mis­sionary, to prepare for True Parents’ visit there. We painted the center in Amsterdam, and I made some kim­chee for True Parents. I really prayed with all my heart, feeling so grateful to be able do this for the returned Lord, praying to honor True Parents with all my heart. Later I heard that Father really enjoyed the kimchee.

I was so thrilled that I thought I should make some more. I was floating on a happy cloud that Father had liked my kimchee, so the next time I made some, I didn’t pray as hard. And he didn’t like the next lot I made! That taught me that when we are serving True Parents we have to have a heart of absolute reverence, humility and love. Father senses everything and cannot accept something unless it is offered with the right heart.

In Korea for the Blessing

When we went to Korea for the bless­ing in 1970, I had been working as a missionary in Jordan. Mrs. Choi told me that Father had talked about me every day in Korea, worrying if I were all right. So I just started to cry. You know, Father has all those responsi­bilities, and so many concerns, and I didn’t know how he could have time to think of one small missionary in Jordan….

When I offered the gift from Great Britain that I had brought for True Parents, Father smiled at me. I can’t tell you what an incredible, beautiful smile it was. It was like the sun sud­denly came out. It was such a brilliant, beaming, totally happy smile. That smile was so overwhelming.

While I was in Korea I developed hepatitis, which I had caught from the water in Jordan. Miss Kim Young-oon arranged for a nurse to come and treat me at the training center. I found out later that it was Father himself who had instructed Miss Kim to make this arrangement because he did not want me to go to hospital. He told me he knew that I would feel too lonely, miserable and left out. I was so amazed. How incredibly kind, thoughtful and understanding! This is his incredible heart for the members.

Sometimes all the Western members would go out for a trip somewhere, but I couldn’t go because I had to stay and have the intravenous drip treatment. Mrs. Moon Lan-young was looking after us then. She was so considerate and kind. When I had finished the drip one day, she told me that True Parents and Mrs. Choi had gone for a walk, and that if I ran I would be able to join them. I ran along the path and found them sitting on a blanket at the top of a hillock. Two Dutch brothers were giving testimony. When I came along, Father gave me a cushion to sit on next to him. Mother and Mrs. Choi smiled at me. I sat there listening to the testimonies. Father then shared his plans to send out missionaries in future in threes, not just one by one. Then he turned and looked at me, and asked me, “What do you think of that idea?” I thought it was a wonderful idea, and I was so excited that I grabbed Father’s arm hard with both my hands!

We were sharing Father’s flat at that time. We shared Father and Mother’s bathroom, even. If Father wanted to come to use the bathroom, we would scurry off and leave the room for him. There was a huge rock near the door that led up to their room. Father and Mother would sit on that rock in the evening, and some­times we were able to go and join them. One evening, we were sitting there. Father was talking and shar­ing, and we were singing. And I was thinking, “Oh Heavenly Father, this is absolute heaven! I wish it would never end.”

Just then, suddenly, Father said, “I wish this would never end.”

The Heart to Find Spiritual Children

When I started my mission in Edin­burgh, I was praying about what attitude I must have in order to find spiritual children. I was standing and looking over a park as I prayed. Then I saw this woman run­ning desperately from bench to bench where people were sitting. Within a few moments she ran up to me, she said, “I’ve looked all over the park…. Have you seen my little boy? Have you seen my little boy!?” Tears were streaming down her face.

“I haven’t seen him,” I said, “I’m sorry.” She ran off desperately.

Suddenly, I saw her find her little boy. She picked him up and hugged him as if she would never let him go.

This was my answer. I had to be like a mother who had lost her child, with that heart of desperation.

But the most amazing thing was that when Mother came to speak in Edinburgh, Scotland, when the Wom­en’s Federation was being inaugurat­ed, she was speaking to brothers and sisters after the event. And she said, “To bring spiritual children, you have to have the heart of a mother search­ing desperately for her lost child.”

At a European Leaders’ Meeting

European leaders were having a con­ference in England, and they had all come to the London headquarters. I was serving food, when Father called me over. He looked at me straight in the eyes, really deeply, and he said, “I know you are having a very difficult time, really suffering a lot. But there will come a time when everything will be all right.” When he said it, he looked at me with the kindest, most compassionate, gentle, smile. I was just so comforted.

Later when I was in South Africa, and things were very difficult, it kept me sane. I could always remember that experience, and think of it, and it helped me stay collected and verti­cally focused.

Insight into True Parents

Doris Orme asked me to take a picture of Father to a well-known medium in Edinburgh, to see what he could see about Father. (I wouldn’t have done this otherwise!) When I sat down with the medium, and he looked at the photograph, he said, “This person’s your father!” Then he looked at me and said, “But how is that possible? He can’t be…. But he is! And he loves you very much. And yet, how can he be your father?”

From the time I had received the bless­ing, I had been praying to understand its significance. It was a great testi­mony to me to hear that True Parents really are our parents.

– Adapted from a testimony published in the November 2009 issue of Today’s World magazine